JoJosMom Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 While surfing the web reviewing my lesson plans this morning, I stumbled across this gem. Well worth the time to read for everyone teaching writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Great article! and he is an excellent writer. Good sales pitch for his new book on writing . . . ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJosMom Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 Great article! and he is an excellent writer. Good sales pitch for his new book on writing . . . ;) Cynic! :tongue_smilie: (Of course, if it were really cheap and qualified for Amazon Prime, I might consider it...'Cuz it's not like I have very many books or anything. And now maybe I ought to, I don't know, teach my child, or something. Hmm, I'm thinking it's really Monday around here. :thumbdown: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Of course clarity in writing is an important goal. I would suggest to that end reading the short (and cheap) classic work, The Elements of Style: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413226760&sr=1-1&keywords=the+elements+of+style Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Yep, that one, and anything written by Zinsser (On Writing Well, Writing to Learn) are my go-to style manuals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Great article! and he is an excellent writer. Good sales pitch for his new book on writing . . . ;) His publicist has done their work. He's EVERYWHERE the past couple weeks :D I like Pinker though & the new book sounds good. There's a free booklet avail for download avail through The Chronicle .... http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Academics-Stink-at/149105?cid=inline-promo btw, if anyone wants a gentle but intriguing intro to Pinker, he appears in the (old now) DVD Me & Isaac Newton. It's a really neat dvd about scientists.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJosMom Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 Hmmm. Let's see, I posted the link to the article, Chrysalis Academy mentioned the book, and Hornblower references a DVD. So, who is writing this guy an email demanding our free copies of his latest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deee Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 I left my job as a science writer and statistician 5 years ago to homeschool DS. Much of this piece is correct, although I'm not sure I can read it objectively yet! I was very lucky to work with an outstanding science writer. Her mantra was that our writing should be understandable for a 12 year old. Publishers and granting bodies are generalists. If you can't explain your work in understandable terms, you don't deserve their money. Unfortunately in science, the prevaling opinion seemed to be that the more complex you made your work sound, the cleverer you were. It took me years to realise that the real art was making difficult concepts appear easy, not the other way around. D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aras Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Oh! I really enjoyed his book, The Language Instinct. I looked at the rest of his bibliography and it is really interesting. I guess I have some reading to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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